FRANÇOIS COUPERIN : Keyboard Music • 2 (Angela Hewitt) (2003) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Angela Hewitt once again presents an intelligent, yet eminently musical performance of Baroque keyboard works on the piano on the second of her three discs devoted to Couperin's Pieces de Clavecin. Her depth of knowledge, revealed in her liner notes, extends from the works to his life, his times, and Baroque music. This can be heard in her playing, adding to her own enjoyment of the pieces. She obviously enjoys the challenges of interpreting then presenting the pictures Couperin hints at with titles such as Les Ombres errantes (The Wandering Souls), La Sophie (either a Muslim mystic or the name of a young girl), and Saillie (either a leap or a quip), and of performing them on a modern version of an instrument that had only just been invented when these were written and, therefore, is not the instrument Couperin anticipated being used. On this particular disc, the works primarily use the upper part of the keyboard. Hewitt has a touch that is neither too heavy for this, which would make them sound dense or even muddy, nor too delicate, which would make them seem more ephemeral or trifling. Nor does she ever try to approximate the sounds of a harpsichord. She gives each piece beautifully clear tones and phrasing. Her presentation and her understanding make the disc a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Patsy Morita
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